This week's Tracks Of The Week take us from Sweden to Australia via many points in-between, teaching us that if you wanna get a ticket to ride, you're probably best off buying one of those round-the-world trips and saving money that way.
Restorations — Separate Songs The press release describes this as “Biscuits swimming in gravy. George Clooney’s salt and pepper beard”. We don’t know what this means, and have assumed that it’s code for something like “Restorations are great. Separate Songs is also great, and we’ll give you £5 to put it on your website”. We don’t agree with such underhand tactics, but we do actually like this, as it’s unexpectedly rowdy, and the singer has an unexpectedly gruff voice. Like a mountain man, but in a band. It also features a naked fella in a bath eating an ice cream.
Electric Mary — Sweet Mary C High voltage Australians Electric Mary describe themselves as “rock ‘n’ roll… the way it used to taste!” Now we’ve been around for a long time – we still carry the scars from the piss/bottle wars at the Reading Festival, from before it got turned into Tescos in a field with bands — and we can actually remember what rock’n’roll used to taste like. To be frank, it wasn’t very nice: wee, sweat, patchouli, cheap burgers and Ruddles County. Otherwise, this is good.
Freak Kitchen — Sloppy We’ve been singing this in the office all week. “Sloppy!”, we sing. “I’m getting sloppy, you’re getting sloppy, we’re getting sloppy, slop-py-py-py-py-py-py-py-py!” It’s done wonders for morale. Another lyric claims that “everyone has been cornholed”, but we’ve been keeping quiet on those bits. Either way, Freak Kitchen are from Sweden, which must explain something.
Led Zeppelin — Black Dog (Basic Track With Guitar Overdubs) This week, we decided to rank all the Led Zeppelin album in order of greatness, just for our own amusement, because that’s the kind of thing we do here at Classic Rock HQ. It turns out that III and IV are equally good, and that no-one likes Coda. So we were delighted to hear a new version of Black Dog from IV this week, and while it might not differ that much from the original, it still clatters about in rather terrific fashion.
Paul Collins — Only Girl If you were to build a shrine to power pop in your shed, you’d probably place an effigy of Paul Collins at its centre. He was the man behind The Nerves, who gave Blondie the classic Hanging on the Telephone, and he went on to form The Beat (no, not that one) who were forced to change their name when they toured Europe because they shared their name with The Beat (yes, that one). Only Girl proves that Collins has lost none of his melodic touch, with the type of chorus that’ll have postmen whistling in the shower as they work.
Linkin Park - In The End (Ten Second Songs 20 Style Cover) Watch amazed as Anthony Vincent performs Linkin Park in the style of Boyz II Men, Johnny Cash, Guns N’ Roses, Freddie Mercury and many more. Such is Ant’s talent that we think it’s only a matter of time before he’s offered a job in a “serious” band, but he’s probably earning so much money from YouTube ads that he’ll be able to retire by, ooh, November. Respect.
The Phuss — I Don’t Feel Good This is the first video we’ve ever seen where a drummer uses a beer bong during a live performance. This might not up there with the time Keith Moon mixed mandrax with brandy and had to be replaced by someone from the audience, but it’s a start, and we salute it. Musically, think early Nirvana with a less sulky singer.
God Damn — Horus What is it with two piece bands? Royal Blood are topping the charts, and now here’s God Damn (who are much hairier), making a rather excellent racket without ever needing to call on more than a single pair of musicians or write a bass part. If things carry on at this rate — and we’re predicting they will — 2015 will be the year of single-person rock bands. Remember, you read it here first.
